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LABOUR

Swedish bus driver sacked for sending text message

A Swedish bus driver has been sacked for sending a text message while driving from Stockholm to Norrtälje. The driver was caught on film by a passenger.

“We have conducted an investigation and regard the incident as very serious, we have thus decided to terminate the trial period,” Ted Stridsberg at operator Busslink told the Norrtelje Tidning newspaper.

The bus-driver was filmed apparently writing a text message on his mobile phone while driving from Danderyd to Norrtälje north of Stockholm on Tuesday evening.

The film shows the driver pushing buttons on his mobile phone while driving the bus with his elbows. The bus was travelling at high speed along the motorway at the time and he appeared to send several messages.

The driver has leapt to his own defence arguing that at no time did he put the safety of the passengers in jeopardy.

“I used the telephone when it was quiet on the road and we were driving along a straight stretch of road,” he told the newspaper.

Furthermore the driver maintains that he was responding to a missed call from management.

The driver has received support from union representatives who argue that some of the responsibility should rest with the company and management.

“It becomes an obligation when an employer rings up and expects that one should receive instructions – at the same time as they know that he is working,” Bengt Bryungs at the Kommunal union told the DN.se news website.

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RYANAIR

Ryanair cabin crew in Germany back labour deal

German cabin crew have approved a proposed labour agreement hashed out with Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair, the Verdi union said, ending months of deadlock and strike threats over better pay and conditions.

Ryanair cabin crew in Germany back labour deal
A Ryanair plane at an airport in West Rhine-Westphalia. Photo: DPA

The influential Verdi union said members voted “by a large majority” on Tuesday to back a deal struck with Ryanair management last week that will raise crews' basic salary by €600 a month, alongside other pay increases and guaranteed working hours.

The deal, which still needs to be finalized by the end of the month, also switches German staff from Irish to local labour contracts, addressing a key gripe among Ryanair staff across Europe.

Verdi board member Christine Behle hailed the outcome as “a great success” and praised Ryanair cabin crew for “fighting for their rights”.

But she condemned Ryanair's refusal to accept a so-called works council, a body within a company that represents workers and an important feature in Germany's corporate world.

The labour agreement does not apply to Ryanair pilots, who are being represented by German cockpit union VC.

The hard-fought deal comes after German cabin crew joined a pan European walkout in September they say forced Ryanair to cancel more than 190 flights. 

SEE ALSO: Almost 40 percent of Ryanair flights in Germany cancelled

A 24-hour strike by German cabin and cockpit crew earlier that month also forced the cancellation of 150 Ryanair flights.

Ryanair only began recognizing unions for the first time in its 30-year history last December, to avert mass strikes during the busy Christmas period.

It has since been hit with a wave of industrial action that has dented profits.

The budget carrier has so far managed to clinch labour agreements with staff in several countries including Britain, Portugal and Italy.

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